The Farr Side: ‘Roseanne’: The more things change …

Thursday

I was excited to see the return of “Roseanne.” It’s one of the best TV sitcoms of all-time, in my book.

I think what I liked most was the characters were common people, often struggling with things many families in the late ’80s and early ’90s faced.

It’s cool to know that, after a 21-year hiatus, a lot hasn’t changed in the “Roseanne” household. The Conners are still broke, Roseanne has a big mouth, Darlene and Becky still argue, Jackie is Jackie and Dan, is, well, not dead!

I think I was most interested to see how the show dealt with Dan, because in the 1997 series finale, he passed away. I always thought the series had ended on a wrong note.

I cannot lie: My first reaction was seeing how they aged. But, who hasn’t? It was just hard to believe 21 years has passed since we last heard Roseanne’s infectious laugh and Dan’s jabs at Jackie.

I’ve been enjoying the TV reboots, especially “Will & Grace.” The return episode of that series involved the foursome taking on the current political scene. It was often fair game when the show was on its first run, so it wasn’t as much of a surprise.

“Roseanne” often took political jabs back in the day, too. But she never blatantly took a side, instead her actions spoke volumes. My, how things have changed for the Conners and for the town of Lanford. Roseanne wasted no time jumping right into politics this time around, only it wasn’t like before.

Roseanne Barr herself has made plenty of political jabs of late. She’s a Trump supporter and has no problem defending her position. That carried over into the return pilot episode in a big way.

Roseanne Conner and her sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) were not on speaking terms. In fact, they supposedly had not spoken to one another since the 2016 election. It was funny to hear Roseanne talk so adamantly against Hillary Clinton and boast about Trump. I’m not sure that would have happened on the show 25 years ago.

The lack of political un-correctedness didn’t stop there. It was pretty much the entire premise of the first new episode. Jackie and Roseanne had it out with each other over the state of our country. Each made valid points as to why they held the positions they did, with Roseanne coming out on the side of job creation.

“Roseanne” in its initial run often addressed current topics: Birth control, poverty, domestic abuse, homosexuality and female empowerment. Those things seem almost tame compared to what the fictional family is handling now. Darlene has moved back home. Dan and Roseanne have a cross-dressing grandson. Becky is contemplating becoming a surrogate mother. D.J. has an African American child. Dan still drinks too much.

As I watched, I wondered if Tim Allen was watching. It’s been said people feel his most-recent sitcom, “Last Man Standing,” was canceled by ABC for getting too political. He had no qualms about bashing Hillary on his show, but perhaps the network may have.

With old sitcoms coming back like “Will & Grace,” “Roseanne” and “Murphy Brown” in the fall, maybe Allen’s “Home Improvement” might see the light of day again, too. — David T. Farr can be reached at farrboy@hotmail.com. You also can find The Farr Side on Facebook.

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